Free My Phone — Suppose you own a Dell computer, and you decide to replace it with a Sony. You don't have to get the permission of your Internet service provider to do so, or even tell the provider about it. You can just pack up the old machine and set up the new one.

Facebook: Who needs Google? Facebook's stealth ad system — Facebook, in the midst of a high-stakes negotiation over its future, has just dramatically upped the ante. How? The social network is quietly starting to promote its long-rumored ad-targeting system — under a clever costume.

Microsoft Finally Bows to EU Antitrust Measures — Microsoft agrees to comply with a landmark 2004 antitrust decision by the European Commission. — BRUSSELS (Reuters)—Microsoft Corp. ended three years of resistance on Monday and finally agreed to comply with a landmark 2004 antitrust decision by the European Commission.

Libraries Shun Deals to Place Books on Web — Several major research libraries have rebuffed offers from Google and Microsoft to scan their books into computer databases, saying they are put off by restrictions these companies want to place on the new digital collections.

Exclusive: I Was a Hacker for the MPAA — Promises of Hollywood fame and fortune persuaded a young hacker to betray former associates in the BitTorrent scene to Tinseltown's anti-piracy lobby, according to the hacker. — In an exclusive interview with Wired News, gun-for-hire hacker Robert Anderson tells …

More than 100 times faster than WiFi? — Radio scientists at IBM Research and MediaTek are teaming up to develop a wireless transmission protocol that will deliver files more than 100 times faster than WiFi. — The idea is to take advantage of the 60GHz spectrum, according to Mehmet Soyuer …

Fostering ties for venture capitalists — People who sign in to the newest social network won't be looking for dates or posting a list of their favorite movies. They will be searching for companies to invest in and listing their interests in areas like clean energy or enterprise software.

Home-made helicopters hit northern Nigeria — KANO (AFP) - Mubarak Muhammad Abdullahi, a 24-year-old physics undergraduate in northern Nigeria, takes old cars and motorbikes to pieces in the back yard at home and builds his own helicopters from the parts. — "It took me eight months …

Comcast TiVo In The Wild! — While most folks haven't been cleared to receive the Comcast TiVo and pricing still hasn't been revealed, some lucky New Englanders have the hookup. — But before we get to the exclusive pictures, I'd like to pose a series of questions... How much will the TiVo on Comcast service be?

Comcast is also Jamming Gnutella (and Lotus Notes?) — Yesterday, we posted about some experiments showing that Comcast is forging packets in order to interfere with its customers' use of BitTorrent. There have been reports of strange things happening with other protocols …

Has The MySpace To Facebook Switch Begun? — If hype was the only indicator of marketshare in social networking, Facebook would be the winner by a mile, and yet for all the talk of Facebook's greatness, MySpace remains the most popular social networking destination.

Woman pounds out her rage at cable firm — BRISTOW, Va. — She was fined and got a suspended jail sentence, but Mona Shaw says she has no regrets about using a hammer to vent her frustration at a cable company. — ''I stand by my actions even more so after getting all these telephone calls …